A Thread-aholic in Colorado

Baby Lock Tech 2016 coming to a close -

HUBBY NEWS

Today was the last day of the very successful and informative 2016 Convention.

Tuesday night, we interviewed and set tentative dates for a couple of Baby Lock Educators to come to Cañon City next year.

And this morning, I did get another chance to review the updated features of the Destiny II. All in all, we were pleased with the opportunity to attend and look forward to sharing the ideas, concepts and designs with everyone back home.

Below is me with President of Baby Lock, Steve Jeffrey...

Tuesday at Babylock Tech - Hooray for the Educators

HUBBY NEWS

Since the opening ceremony last Saturday night here in St. Louis for Babylock Tech, we've met up with past friends and made lots of new ones, to include those who's sole purpose is to introduce, educate and train us on the latest developments on the technology. Oh but wait! There's more!

The Educators show us how to have fun... Through their long days of studying, practice and perfection, the Educators wear smiles and positive attitudes and pour their hearts into their jobs by sharing their knowledge - showing us how to enjoy our crafting passions.

With that said, we will soon be bringing several Educators to Canon City to share their expertise on a variety of machines and techniques. Come back to the FaceBook portion of FirstStitches.com and see what's happening - daily. Here is an impromptu video of Missy Billingsley, a Babylock Ambassador who hope to book the summer of 2017.

Meet Missy's Bling Bling! from First Stitches on Vimeo.

 

Monday evening at BabyLock Tech with Nicci Brazzell

HUBBY NEWS

Throughout the course of the training seminars, we've been told what is hot and what to stay away from. Most of the "hot" is technology and how to get the message to your customers. You will recognize most as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Pinterest and Twitter are okay, but don't make a financial difference. What the top two have in common is the use of video - short and sweet - under 3 minutes to get your point across. Well, we tried our first video for FaceBook with the assistance of Nicci Brazzell, embroidery expert, educator, teacher and above all, more famous than us.

Kim has an event coming up in September 30th - Oct 1st and Nicci will be in Canon City to help out. We asked Nicci to promote the event as the first video and get our feet wet. The good video is on the regular FaceBook page. Its my job to put the bloopers onto this site. See this one, then go watch the other.

IMG_6975 from First Stitches on Vimeo.

 

 

 

1st Saturday Demo

What a great way to start the Labor Day Weekend.  Our 1st Saturday Demo is this Saturday, September 3rd, and Cyndi will be showing us the time-saving, innovative Studio 180 rulers by Deb Tucker. Complicated quilt designs are made easy using these rulers and Cyndi will demonstrate some of the most popular techniques. 

Plus, all Deb Tucker rulers will be 20% OFF on Saturday.  And don't forget, her patterns will be 30% OFF, like all books and patterns everyday. See you then!

BabyLock Convention - Day One

HubbyNews

My personnel agenda began with an early morning coffee and a fruit plate and reviewing what I was going to do and where I was expected to be. My first class included working on the new Destiny II and utilizing the new features. In about 2 hours, I created a seasonal wall hanging with ease. AND I also learned a new way to connect the binding ends of fabric.

I actually finished it. One of the the instructors will send me the video about the binding technique. Good for me, good for you.

This afternoon - I had two classes. The first was, "How to Find, Hire, Train & Motivate the Best Employees" and "Digital in Diapers - Marketing to the Millennials", both taught by Georganne Bender and Rich Kizer (www.KIZERandBENDER.com). They are a great team who provided insight as consultants for business strategies through experience and humor. Another impressive class for BabylockTech.

the husband...

Update for the Opening Ceremony Evening

HubbyNews

We met up with Nicci Brazzell at the end of the end of the opening presentation for Babylock. Lots of great products coming out to include the Destiny II, Jazz, the 10 needle Valiant the Presto, the Accord to name a few. Not to mention the new software packages. Anyway, Nicci was in Canon City last September for the first first time to assist us with our first Babylock Southern Colorado Embroadiary Extravaganza and it was a huge success. Due to its success, she will again be coming to Southern Colorado September 30 - October 1st, 2016. We are looking forward to her visit. Her she is with Kim on the opposite side .

St. Louis, Baby Lock, and Blog-Ins

Randy and I are OBVIOUSLY in St. Louis. 

And we are OBVIOUSLY at Baby Lock Tech 2016. 

And as you've noticed, Randy's starting to help me with this blog.  I found out tonight that it's actually popular for quilt shop and sewing store husbands to "blog-in" for their wives.  So, we'll both be contributing to the "Thread-a-holic in Colorado" blog.  He's actually an excellent writer and as you will see... he OBVIOUSLY writes more than me.  Enjoy.

I was so excited to meet up with Nicci Brazzell. Nicci will be in Cañon City next month at our Southern Colorado Embroidery Extravaganza. (Are YOU signed up yet?) She is so much fun and we're all going to have a great time.

And here's hubby (below), with the President of Baby Lock, Steve Jeffreys.  Opening ceremony is always a blast and I'm looking forward to everything I'll learn this week. Baby Lock is a wonderful, family-based company, with great leadership and support.

BabyLock Convention - Pre-Check In

I mentioned a time change yesterday - not much of one, but we lost an hour all the same. If we don't make it back before November 6th, I will loose another hour. On the other hand, if I cross from Central time into Mountain time on November 5th, I will break even.... Sorry, I don't know where I was going with that. Other than we finally got to bed about midnight last night (11p) and got up and was on the road again at 07:00. The second half of the journey was only 5 hours so after an early check in at the Hyatt around noon (next to the Arch), we ate at the local Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar and rested before checking in to obtain our packets at 2p. We now have our official name tags, and our classes. We now had about 4 hours to explore before opening ceremonies tonight. Before we delve into the festivities, I will share a couple of photos. One of the Arch - completed in 1965...

We are standing on the Old Courthouse steps. Inside is a beautiful 190 foot rotunda, plus wings with historical significance throughout the building. Okay, now on to the Convention.....

BabyLock Convention - The PreFlight...

HubbyNews

As the First Stitches (Sewing Store & Quilt Shop) staff opened and set up the latest Tacony offering - the Destiny II - Kim and I reviewed our options for the upcoming events and classes during the Babylock Convention held in St. Louis, MO. Kim will take more management courses where I plan to play. Pay for Play I guess...

We always believe we prepare adequately for a trip, especially for a week's stay, but we also know to expect the unexpected. So prepared that Thursday evening before the early Friday morning departure date, we decided to do laundry. The washer's cycle offer an express mode but the microwave industry has yet to invent a way to clean clothes in less than three minutes. Five hours of washing and drying and 4 hours of "Vikings" episodes later, we have filled our suitcases with the essentials that include a noise maker and various power cords for a multitude of electronic devices.

We've also found most vending machines on the road and in hotels charge a thousand times more than normal retail, so we stocked up on chips and beverages for the drive and overnight stays. Left over pizza and bananas round out the nutritious meals to compliment Cheetos and Doritos. With the dogs gone, and the birds on a feeding schedule with a neighbor, and the house secured, we leave on our 620 mile trek at 07:00 - an hour and a half later than planned. Rather than drive the entire 12-13 hours, we will travel to somewhere near the Kansas Speedway (left of Kansas City if you are looking at a map) to include the time change from Mountain to Central Region - depending on my capacity-challenged bladder.

Update: so the first day's blog is in the can after many stops, to include a slow down on I-70 after witnessing a 10+ car pile up, and sporadic rain. The rain finally caught up with us as we exited a local Mexican restaurant. The local TV channels highlighted a tornado warning south of us and my phone is alerting me we are under a flash flood warning until 01:45 Saturday morning. Time for a hot shower and a good night's rest. Check in tomorrow to make sure we made it to the hotel in St. Louis.

Now that's a Happy Tuffet!

Deb, once again, is going outside the box with some creative fun. 

Join Deb as she'll take you step by step, to make this beautifully embroidered tuffet.

This is a Sarah Vedeler Design, from her  "Happy Tuffet Collection".

2-Session Class starting Sept. 24th

1st session will be learning how to stitch out each tuffet section. 
2nd session (date TBD) will be assembling.

(yes, you will have homework between sessions)

Click here for more information.

A really tough machine!

When Randy went to Chicago for BERNINA tech training this past May, he said his instructor told him that the frames of the BERNINA sewing machines are so strong, a person could stand on one.

So when my BERNINA District Rep informed me die casts from the 700 series just became available, I seriously had to have one. 

And of course, I had to stand on it to prove Randy right.  (Isn't that what wives are suppose to do?)

Love, Love, Love the BERNINAs!!!

A Christmas BOM that can be finished by Christmas... really!

Our wonderful quilt teacher, Cyndi, is offering a Christmas Block of the Month from the Holiday Wishes book, just recently released. We have received some of the MODA "Midnight Clear" coordinating fabric to accompany it. You can look at the class HERE.  She has it scheduled so it really could be ready for the Holiday Season.

Baby, it's cold outside...

Don't you LOVE these Frosty Babies.  Cyndi M.'s class did a great job on learning appliqué and putting them all together for this adorable #quilt.

Have you signed up for a class yet.  See all of our classes here!

We had a BERNINA blast!

Our BERNINA Sewapalooza 2016 was this past weekend and we had so much fun! We all learned new techniques and gained tips from a wonderful BERNINA Educator, Mary Beck.

Oh, and Ms. Lois provided excellent food and desserts.  Can it get any better than this... I don't think so!

A winner at the Fremont County Fair!

Each year, First Stitches Sewing and Quilt Shop sponsors a ribbon at the Fremont County Fair.  This year, the winner of our ribbon "Best Use of Color" went to Nancy T.  She also got a First Place for her Farmers Market Tote Bag!  Nice job Nancy!

So, I really do hate selfies...

...But I thought it might be nice to put some faces to "First Stitches".

Randy, the dedicated and detailed technician, is my husband.  He's a certified sewing machine tech, and we keep him very busy in his off-hours from his regular day-time job.  His shop is right here at the "complex" and all machines are fixed on-site.  I do hate to admit it, but his workshop area is 10 times neater than my office could ever HOPE to be!

And then that's me. I have certification training in Janome, Baby Lock and BERNINA sewing machines. But rest assured, the training, and the learning never comes to an end.

Together, we make a pretty good team.  And more so, because he loves to sew and create as much as I do.  On a typical day, he has one quilt on the design wall, one getting started on the cutting table, and I have one on the long arm, and multiple ones started around our sewing studio (yes, someday I will finish ALL my UFOs.. ha!).

And I have to admit, it's sweet having a repair tech at my beck and call. 

We just celebrated 22 years together, and when we are not sewing, or repairing, or running a quilt shop, we're on our Harleys, cruising through our beautiful home state of Colorado. 

We are the epitome of small business USA.  We love what we do, we put in VERY long hours, and we love being around others who share our love of sewing. Come see us sometime. We're always laughing about something!

--Randy and Kim